How to Travel During a Semester Abroad

Greetings, friends! Jack and I are SO close to calling Florence our home and we are excited to share the secrets to how & why we planned all our weekend trips/ spring break ahead of time. In this post you will learn about:- why we decided to plan trips in advance- how we decided on where to go- our planned trips (BUDGET FRIENDLY!!)

Why we decided to plan trips in advance:

Jack and I kinda had an advantage to this situation because we knew we wanted to do a lot of traveling together. However, a lot of the time, students embark on a semester abroad without knowing anyone (which is so admirable) and they wait to meet travel companions before planning trips.

I still think this post will be beneficial no matter the case because you'll get a peek inside the destinations we chose and where we decided to stay (on a budget). BUT, if you already do have a travel partner, you might want to start thinking of planning ahead for a few different reasons:

all the best-priced and most conveniently located Airbnbs will be gone if you wait!!

The rates for flights, train rides, etc. will be cheaper.

It saves you the headache & added time caused by trying to plan trips and spend time enjoying your host location.

How we decided on where to go:

Let me be the first to say that it's overwhelming trying to figure out how to spend your extra time abroad. You want to balance immersing yourself in your host city while also taking advantage of being in Europe.

Side note: We hold firmly the belief and importance of exploring and soaking in the places you visit rather than ticking off as many countries/cities as possible. When traveling to Europe as an American, I think it can be easy to try and cram stuff rather than leaving time to wander and really immerse yourself in the places you visit.

Jack and I decided that the best route to take (because you can't do it all), would be to visit other countries on our spring break trip and then leave the weekends for exploring Italy, our host country. We wanted to take full advantage of soaking in all the culture of the country we chose in the first place, and there are SO many breathtaking cities in Italy!

Here are a few tips that we have picked up along the way:

Plan ahead for the super popular cities like Venice & Positano, and leave the smaller cities for spontaneous day-trips so you still feel like you have freedom to explore!

Take into consideration the cost/time it will take to actually TRAVEL to that location and make sure your trip won't be too rushed.

Decide HOW you will get to your destination (train, bus, airplane, car rental, taxi). ***I have found that a plane ticket can sometimes be cheeper than a train ticket.

Take into consideration student travel companies like Smart Trip in which you pay for an entire trip upfront that includes transportation and accommodation! We only booked one trip like this (we got a great Black Friday deal) and it's nice to know that everything is already planned for us!

Our planned trips:

January 22nd: Arrive in Florence, Italy!February 7th-10th: Prague, Czech Republic with Smart TripMarch 8th-10th: Positano, Italy

Our Airbnb

March 14th-18th: Paris, France (spring break)

Our Airbnb

March 19th-24th: Luzern, Switzerland (spring break)

Our Airbnb

March 29th-31st: Venice, Italy

Our Airbnb (I will put the link later-Jack wants it to be a surprise ;))

April 11th-14th: Ostuni, Italy

Our Airbnb

May 10th: Back to Atlanta, Georgia! In between these dates we plan on taking day trips with new friends to places like Rome, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Perugia, and more Italian cities!

Which one of these is on your bucket list? Let us know below!